Nineteen people were arrested Saturday night during the continued protest of former police officer Jason Stockley’s acquittal of first-degree murder in the death of Anthony Lamar Smith.
St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department reported two arrests, St. Louis County Police Department reported seven and University City police reported 10, the agencies tweeted late Saturday night. The charges range from failure to disperse, resisting, assault on an officer and damage to property. Friday night protests saw 33 arrests from city police.
For most of Saturday, the protests stayed peaceful. It was only Saturday night when the official protest ended that people started to get more violent and destructive.
- Protesters threw rocks and paint at police wearing riot gear
- 23 businesses on the Delmar Loop in University City were damaged
- More than five police cars were damaged
- Police brought out pepper spray to control some protesters
- No serious police or civilian injuries
- Federal prosecutors said they will not open a new civil rights investigation into Smith’s death
- U2 and Ed Sheeran canceled their concerts for the weekend in St. Louis due to security concerns
Smith’s death is only one of several high profile cases where a white officer killed a black man, including the 2014 killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., that sparked months of angry and sometimes violent protests.
Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens also issued a statement following the Saturday night protests:
“Saturday night, some criminals decided to pick up rocks and break windows. They thought they’d get away with it. They were wrong. Our officers caught ‘em, cuffed ‘em, and threw ‘em in jail.
In the past, our leaders let people break windows, loot, start fires. They let them do it. Not this time. Tonight, the police arrested the vandals. At this moment, they’re all sitting in a jail cell. They’re gonna wake up and face felony charges.
These aren’t protestors, these are criminals.
Criminals, listen up: you break a window, you’re going to be behind bars. It’s that simple.”
RELATED: Timeline: Events leading up to final minutes of Anthony Lamar Smith’s life
RELATED: Protesters ‘tired of the police killing black St. Louis’
Our department made two arrests when demonstrations became unruly tonight, both for 'Failure to Disperse' @ Skinker/Delmar. #STLVerdict
— St. Louis, MO Police (@SLMPD) September 17, 2017
(2/2) Correction: 7 arrested by #STLCountyPD: 5 adults, 2 juveniles. Charges include resisting, destruction of property & assault on LEO. https://t.co/Fe8ctCjLa6
— St. Louis County PD (@stlcountypd) September 17, 2017
Kara Berg: 618-239-2626, @karaberg95
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